Notes from No Man's Land: Eula Biss In order: Introduction, Summaries, Conclusion, Additional articles / sources, & Connections Wiki Home
Notes from No Man's Land: Introduction
Notes From No Man's Land is a collection of experiences written by Eula Biss. Throughout this work, Biss intertwines themes and ideas from the past and the present as she analyzes what race is to our society. At its core, this book is an interrogation of racism and racial ignorance in America. Biss introduces many insightful ideas about how we can handle issues of race in our lives. Biss is not content with color-blind attitudes that our society has embraced. Instead Biss wants to heal the scars of racism that still exist in post-civil rights America and create social progress in diverse communities. According to Biss, it is our fears of inherent racial differences that let America's racial and cultural wounds persist, and it is our own personal identity that often keeps us from connecting with others. By providing her unique insight of situations in our society, Biss advocates the fall of the boundaries that separate racial groups in America.
The first section of "Notes from No-Man's Land" by Eula Biss is titled "New York". It describes some of her experiences in New York regarding race and tells some other race-oriented stories as well. In this section, she describes how she learned about different types of culture as she grew up and when she lived in New York. She realized how people are labeled and stereotyped according to their race. In the end of her experience in New York she found that being surrounded by the racial judgement and the draining, desperate "busyness" of the city made her feel like less of a person. The generalizations and the striving to seek for the opportunities that once was fabled to lie among the New York city streets made her feel like a "nobody", not a "somebody". This is how we as people can feel when we are generalized or stereotyped according to our race.
"Relations" is the first part of the "New York" section. In this section, Biss starts off with a story about a white woman who ended up having twin babies; one white one black. This was the evidence of an error by a fertility clinic. The white woman had received her own fertilized eggs and the fertilized eggs of a black woman who also went to the clinic. The white woman knew the black baby was not her biological child because her husband and herself were not black genetically. There was a big dispute between the white mother and the black mother about who would keep the black child. The white mother felt like both babies were her children, even though the black baby was not hers genetically. The black mother, unable to conceive, felt that the black baby was hers and that she should have custody over him. The court decided that it would be only right that the black baby went with the black mother. The black mother also agreed, although grudgingly, to allow regular visits every so often with the white mother so she could see the black child too. The point that was brought up by the author was that blacks might feel uncomfortable with the idea of white woman raising black children because of what has happened in history. In the past, when slavery was still practiced in the United States, black women would be used for breeding purposes and families would be auctioned off, tearing brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers apart from one another, leaving the white people who bought them to raise the black children (Biss, e-book pg. 251). Harsh feelings may have come from the scars of slavery. Another reason why blacks may not like whites to raise black children is because they might think that raising a black child in a white home would drain the black culture out of them (Biss, e-book pg. 240) These feelings about whites raising blacks exemplifies some of the racism we have in our country and how much weight we let race have in our decisions. Biss said, "Race is a social fiction. But it is also, for now at least, a social fact" (e-book, 240). Another story mentioned in this section was about the "Doll Studies" that started in 1939 to see the effects of racism on children. These studies suggested that because over two-thirds of black children preferred a white doll to a black doll, that black children may have self-esteem issues about their race. These studies have supported the Supreme Court decision to desegregate schools in the Brown vs. Board of Education dispute (Biss, e-book pg. 283). When Biss moved with her cousin to New York, she found many experiences where race determined the treatment she and her cousin got. The landlady that put them up said she was glad she got a "nice" tenant. What Biss later found out though, that what her landlady meant by "nice" was "white" (Biss, e-book 400). People judge on the good and bad on the basis of race. This does not mend the scars of racism.
The "Three Songs of Salvage" section referenced different viewpoints about religion and the meaning of salvation. Biss mentioned how she would pass people on the streets of New York as they yelled out calls to "get saved" by God, or by some other religion. She talked about the different experience she had when she was child. She did not grow up believing in the Christian tradition as many Americans did. Her mother worshiped the African religion of Yoruba. This made her different from other people in America. She also found that she was different from the others she knew who worshiped the Yoruba religion as well. The others knew the religion and dances better, and she felt like she did not belong. Her writing of this portrayed a sense of detachment from the religion. Later as she referenced forward to her time in New York, she seemed to claim no religion. Her mother remarries a few times and chooses not to believe in the Yoruba tradition anymore. What Biss writes at the end of this section was how a person should be "born again" meaning that a person should be able to reevaluate their beliefs. Biss emphasized acceptance by this.
The "Land Mines" section talked about the negative connotations we give to the labels we give others, especially regarding race. In this section Biss describes when she was a teacher in the New York City Public Schools. There, children were very aware of their racial differences, and they were not afraid to let each other feel bad about it. Biss described one class when she had the students write down all the names that they have been called. This was to show emphasis on character building to help the children become better people. However, what Biss found was that based on history and the way schools were set up, children could not escape being defined or controlled according to their race. According to Richard Butchart, and education is the least liberating of all things, especially when it is defined and controlled by others (Biss, e-book pg.673). If the people controlling the school systems show favor to one race, then race will be an issue, and the child will not receive a liberating education but an imprisoned one.
"Goodbye to All That" was about how Biss left New York after a three year stay. She looked back upon her expectations there and how they did not match up with her experiences. While she was there she found that race affected everything there. She found "racial cues" whenever she mentioned a specific area of NY. “The word ‘Harlem’ will mean ‘dangerous’ and ‘tough’ and at other times mean ‘vibrant’ or ‘real’” (Biss, e-book pg. 862) The fact that New York defined each person by race, Biss felt like less of a person there than anywhere else. She learned that "making it there" or not "making it there" does not determine whether you are a failure in life or not. She enjoyed the city, and learned more about herself and how the world worked around her.
“Still I feel jarred by ‘I <3 NY’ bumper stickers and repulsed by ‘I <3 NY’ T-shirts. …I don’t want the New York I loved to be confused with the New York the T-shirts love. That isn’t the same city. … I loved my own experience of the city, which was rarely what I expected it to be.” (Biss, e-book pg. 825)
Biss’s depiction of her initial feelings of California and her work at Voice and Viewpoint was an eye-opening experience; an experience that would ultimately re-think her profession. Black news started by sharing with the reader the stereotypical image of San Diego: Tan young people, muscular, and of course predominantly white. Biss uses Wall Street as an analogy for this apparent phenomenon. “I would realize later that going to the beach in San Diego is like going to Wall Street in New York…it is a place where the cities imagination of itself resides” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg. 76). Biss could easily make the generalization that the beaches of San Diego are the imagination of what people wish to believe because she lived where many yards were gravel- a much more realistic part of town. A place of town that had several liquor stores blocks from her house. Biss was able to differentiate between her real life, and the beach life conjured up by people’s imaginations. Biss provided more insight into social norms and understanding through her assignments with the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint, an African American community newspaper.
Biss first encountered how blacks in the area were portrayed during her first week of work. A particular case in which subjectivity buried any objective thought. “I covered the possible jury misconduct in the conviction of a particularly big black man who did not match the description of any of the witnesses in the case” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg.77). Biss’s experience is one that might seem unsetting, ut one that certainly isn’t new. To the contrary, how many times has a jury wrongly convicted a white person based on just the color of their skin? The African American community is plagued by being buried by guilt in the public eye, while maintaining a guilty by association status qou. These injustices to the black community are what fueled the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint. While not proprietary in the articles, the V&V did however, compile all black interests articles from the nation into one paper, which Biss described as alarming. The unfortunate racist acts towards blacks from court rulings, society, and the opposition all created a splitting among races. Kenneth Clark, a sociologist instrumental in Brown vs. Board of Education school desegregation shared his thoughts on what racists can do to people. “A racist system inevitably destroys and damages human beings; it brutalizes and dehumanizes them, blacks and whites alike.”
One of those highly publicized stories was one of a mother, Ms. Johnson, who struggled to gain custody of her children. Ms. Johnson was in a unique situation because she had taken the appropriate steps to gain custody, and wanted to care for them. A women who cooked, cleaned, and baby sat friends children certainly didn’t seem like an unfit mother? The problem Biss soon found out was that Ms. Johnson had been convicted of a felony, “discharging a firearm with gross negligence.” Ms. Johnson had not had any problems with the law since and had served her time for that crime some years ago. Biss most likely asserted that a women who was a fit mother with one mishap several years ago who could not gain custody to her children was due to one reason. The only plausible reason for Ms. Johnson not getting custody was because she was continuing to be punished for her crime many years prior. Biss describes the biased situation. “Ms. Johnson had served her probation without incident, and her sentence did not include any restrictions on raising her grandchildren” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg.81). This whole interview process with Ms. Johnson took somewhat of a toll on Biss, for she quit not long after her last interview with Ms. Johnson. News was no longer new, but “someone else’s fantasy,” Biss described. It appears that Biss’s articles of race difficulties in a biased newspaper made her loose her passion to write, a lost passion driven by cynical individuals in which races (primarily blacks in this sense) were dealing with issues their white counterparts hadn’t even thought of.
California: Letters to Mexico
Biss journey to Mexico was a trip full of surprises, much like her other stories, but also a tale of enlightenment. Biss being a minority in the United States still had preconceived notions of what La Salina was composed of. Biss along with many others from the states believed that people who lived near the border where criminals from the U.S. who fled, and ran to prevent extradition. However, after Biss’s experiences with Mexico she later finds out that those beliefs were fabricated from stereotypes and fantasy.
Biss becomes enamored with the culture in La Salina including the night hot spots. Bliss was enjoying herself at a bar where music was being played by a local Mexican who had aspirations to be a Hollywood star. After a song was played by the Mexican, a drunk gringo blurted out, “Hey, who wrote that?” According to Biss the man persisted , and so the singer said, “A couple of pigeons.” Biss started to compare her interactions with people in La Salina with those in California after this incident. “I felt sick with hatred then for my own people. If you had asked me then why I hated them, I might have said that I hated them for being so loud and for being drunk. But know I hated them for suddenly being my people, not just other people” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg. 93). Biss identified herself through being distinct from her white folks by being: more educated, articulate, less crude, but she soon realized that those feelings she had in America has very little or no bearing in Mexico, as they should be in America.
Biss’s encounters more Americans, this time at another bar. Biss describes the Americans as being greedy and ignorant; but soon realized as much as she wanted to differentiate herself from them, she indeed, had very similar intentions. They all were at the same bar enjoying themselves, because they had the money to stay on the beach and eat where others with money could eat. Biss became more aware with why and how she thought the way that she did towards different groups on people. Despite her discomfort with some of “her people” she continued to visit La Salina to swim, drink, and read. Forgetting her fast paced life in California is what attracted her to La Salina. “My past, I discovered in Mexico, was simpler and more complicated than I had ever thought it to be” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg. 94).
The part of the story that intrigued me the most was her account of Mexican immigrants looking for a better life in America. “ Perhaps the story of Mexican immigrants coming to America for a better life has been told so many times that is has obscured the reality of American expatriates fleeing from Mexico for the life they were promised but not delivered” (Biss pg. 96). This very well be not only a truth generalization, but also provides details into the difficulties Mexicans have adapting into American life, a life of discrimination and poverty for many. Biss’s thoughts on this opportunity of starting new into the United States is being supported from statistics from all over, particularly from The Center of Immigration Studies, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that finds economic data on all immigrants who reside in the United States. “Despite the current economic expansion (of the 90’s), about one in four Mexican immigrants lives in poverty, compared to about one in ten natives” (Center For Economic Studies). Compared to other immigrants, Mexicans have one of the most difficult time’s assimilating into the American economy; many believe prejudice and racism might be an enormous factor.
California: Babylon
You wouldn’t think that Biss’s first of many disappointments would be that of a park, but it was. Bliss describes California as a fantasy where her family happened to live, which is why she decided to venture westward. The westward expansion particularly occurred after WWII, in which many were calling Oakland or any other large city Babylon. An elusive metaphor that simply means capitalism, success, and imperialism; Oakland, most likely for propaganda reasons was called a garden city-“find happiness in their garden-set home,” Robert Self describes it as, “But it captured the profound cynicism engrained by decades of liberal failure as well as the remarkably optimistic belief in rebirth, in beginning again” (Biss pg. 108). This idea of optimism for new beginnings parallels the same idea from “letters from Mexico,” when Biss speaks on Mexicans moving to California for new opportunities, except they are met with a cruel reality; the same re3ality that Oakland is facing. While many seem to be hopeful, it may never become what people hope it to be. It may be possible that the poor, economy struck people of Oakland (whether they believe it or not) need something significantly more positive to believe in. The hanging gardens of Babylon may have never existed, the same way Oakland may never reach a place Californians wish it would exist. Wiki Home
Notes from No Man's Land (Part 3): The Midwest
Eula Biss continues her discussion of race and culture in Iowa where she had spent time teaching as a graduate student at the University of Iowa and then to Chicago where she lives with her husband. Iowa’s white culture, and racial history provides Biss with an insightful cultural understanding.
Back to Buxton
Biss writes of Buxton, a small, mining company town made with a half white, half black population. By all accounts the town represented a community operated by both black and white people and “the colored man’s Mecca of Iowa” (121). Biss focuses on how communities like Buxton worked and what it meant to its citizens. She also compares it to Iowa City, which is also a sort of “company town” because of the University of Iowa’s influence on the city. Biss finds that minority students at UI often feel alienated by the majority of the student body, as it is mostly white. Diversity at the University of Iowa was a selling point for a cultured education. Biss concludes that Buxton was not a utopia because it had integration, but because the people there all shared the community.
Is This Kansas
She also finds that the student culture of senseless partying and virtues of indifference is propped up by the university’s standards for students. She states that the students there were at “the bottom of an immense hierarchy” within the university while concerns from funders, administrators, and professors came first. Biss writes about the Hurricane Katrina and its effects on Americans. The widely held misconceptions and fears of the situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ended up hindering the recovery process there and Biss attributes this to racial fears. Months after the hurricane in New Orleans a tornado ripped through the campus of the University of Iowa. Instead of helping rebuild or acting responsibly, students took their partying to the streets and marveled at the disaster and afterwards, looting was hardly reported. But similarly to New Orleans, efforts to rebuild the city after the tornado were stunted, as months later when Biss left Iowa City, neglected damages remained, and students were “still drinking” (144). No Man's Land
Biss moves to Chicago with her husband and enters a neighborhood called Roger’s Park. Biss draws upon ideas from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Praire as she dissects her experiences here. While white people and black people coexist in Roger’s Park, there is no community. White people in Roger’s Park refer to themselves as pioneers and allude to the gentrification of the neighborhood with coffee shops and pet grooming shops. In ways, the social situation is like that of Little House, where white settler families lived in fear of the Indians native to the Prairie but hardly realized how their advances were destroying the Indians as a people. The inhabitants of Roger’s Park fear each other and also perpetuate social problems like gangs as minorities live in poverty. Roger’s Park is a No Man’s Land for Eula Biss because while there are people “owning it” the community is divided.
Nobody Knows Your Name
Biss next compares certain aspects of Irish immigrants to blacks in America. She notes the oppressive nature of England’s relationship with Ireland as the English practiced discrimination against the Irish even though the two groups are genetically similar. As Americans, these Irish immigrants were finally able to become equally “white” through their labor. And like the English had discriminated against them, Irish American works now discriminated against blacks. In an article about a new wave of Celtic culture, a British writer describes the Celts as “Europe’s beautiful losers”, which Biss draws upon to wonder, what would it be like to identify ourselves with our “own beautiful losers”? (180). Biss concludes that “feeling black” is the equivalent to “being black”; race has more to do how we identify ourselves and how we want to be represented (181). Wiki Home
Notes from No Man's Land: Conclusion
Eula Biss' concept of the term No Man's Land refers to an "indeterminate state, a state of confusion or uncertainty" (201). To Biss, it is not our physical differences that separate us but our concepts of community and self that isolate ourselves from each other. As this book clearly shows, racism is still felt in the US and is still very painful. To combat the hindrance of racial fears in America, Biss supports a give and take approach to minority groups and offers up the idea that we choose our own race. Biss does not call for the assimilation of minorities to the majority or make claims that integration is important; instead she envisions a society that interactively spans traditional differences, supporting a "colorful" society of not just different races but of all individuals.
Part 3: The Midwest Minority Report, an online article written by The Daily Beast’s Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert analyzes higher education as it is administered to minorities in the US. In studies, 9 out of 10 white students graduate within six years while 7 out of 10 black students graduate. While enrollment at colleges is increasingly racial diverse, there are still poor graduate rates in America. According to this article, a lot of blame rests on universities that are not doing enough to help students from inner-cities graduate and use images of diversity to attract students. At the same time a college education is increasingly expensive. The authors call these injustices of enrolling over graduating as a hindrance to the US as it stands in the “the global economic race”. l
Warmth of Other Suns (except) The "Warmth of Other Suns" excerpt was about the Great Migration of black from the South to the North. Blacks received many new opportunities to become part of American society when they moved to the North. Students were learning more advanced materials in school, and people received better wages. The Great Migration transformed the way society worked. New music, jobs, and ways of life were created and equality seemed to become more of a possibility in America.
A Torturous Journey
"A Torturous Journey" was about the injustices that blacks have had to deal with in society. America is still a racial-oriented country and the way society is set up, it can make it hard for blacks to achieve the "American Dream". Some injustices that have come of the way society is set up against blacks is that black men learned to shirk labor through slavery. Also, black families do not have one father and mother for their children. There are many single-parent homes among blacks. Crime became common among black males because they did not have the education to get good jobs. According to christians, blacks have suffered from 4 types of injustice: commutative, distributive, procedural, and remedial. It is our job as Christians to help give blacks a "leg up" so that they can support themselves when put into a never-ending cycle of poverty. This can be done through scholarship programs and organzations that help released prison inmates get back on their feet so they don't have to return to their former lifestyle that placed them in prison. All of these things were discussed in the article.
Wounds, Bandages, and Scars
Chocolate Rain (video/lyrics)
This song reveals social and racial injustices that are here in America today. Tay Zonday sings about the how other fear blacks. The song gives a negative connotation of blacks and shows that that is how America sometimes perceives them. One of the racial injustices he mentions was how a black person who has done the same crime as a white person may face longer imprisonment because he is black. Although courts deny this, there seems to be a trend. Chocolate Rain seems to be an interesting fun song at first, but when listened to, it can open the eyes of any non-black person of the racial injustice that still occurs in America.
DNA Pioneer Apologizes Over Race Row
James Watson, a DNA Pioneer made a racist statement at a conference, and his apology was mentioned in this article. What he said, was that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really". He implied that blacks were not as smart as whites or other races. People found this so controversial that some interviews were canceled with him the next day because of it.
Barack Obama's Speech on Race
In this speech, Obama addresses a comment his pastor made that portrayed racist views, Obama's own racial background, and the trend of racial injustice shown in society today. Obama defends his pastor by saying that his racist comment in no way makes him respect him more or less. Although he does not agree with what his pastor implied, he still finds him a respectable man. Obama talked about his own racial background. He came from many different places, and he has friends and relatives that live all over the world. He has respect for all races and sympathizes with them. He also says that he has a goal to make sure that society does not sway towards a certain racial group. He hopes that he can be a part of accomplishing that goal.
Holder Calls U.S. "Nation of Cowards" Eric Holder mentions how America is too shy to speak about racial injustices and about race in gender. He says we need to acknowledge the different races all around us and be willing to talk to one another so that we can better accept each other.
Is the Black Church Dead?
The article explains how the black churches in some areas are focusing more on giving money, then actual worship. “New Birth Missionary Baptist -- with 25,000 members who generously bankroll high-living pastors and high-tech services.” Many churches to make sure they’re staying relevant are focusing on what really matters – helping the black underprivileged community.
Melting Chocolate City Washington D.C. has always prided itself as a diverse culture, until now. Many blacks are becoming overwhelmed with the high standard of living, and so many are rapidly moving out of D.C. It is ironic that out nation’s capital is considered one of the most polarized, according to Howard Harrison. “Clearly, D.C. is one of the most polarized cities, by income and education, in the country… You have this unusually large college educated population. And then you have a population that is largely black, with high school degrees or less.”
Samuel L. Jackson: I voted for Obama because he was black Samuel L. Jackson made this candid response recently, and gave an “N word” laden explanation of why he voted for Obama. “When it comes down to it, they wouldn’t have elected a [bleep]. Because, what’s a [bleep]? A [bleep] is scary. Obama ain’t scary at all. [Bleeps] don’t have beers at the White House. [Bleeps] don’t let some white dude, while you in the middle of a speech, call [him] a liar. A [bleep] would have stopped the meeting right there and said, ‘Who the [bleep] said that?’ I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, ’cuz he ain’t gotta worry about getting re-elected.” It is unbelievable that the #1 most grossing movie actor of all time could be so obtuse about the situation. Is it fair to say that white people vote for white politicians because of the color of their skin? Regardless of color, a voter (although they have the right to vote based off of any subjective reasoning) should vote for a candidate based off of political know how, not race.
Part #1: New York
There were many things that were written in this book that I already knew about. However, I did not previously know that the government purposely put black children into school with whites when they legalized integration. I had originally thought that the government allowed integration and that it just happened eventually. I suppose it would make sense though to help along the new legislation. As a Christian, I agree with overall message the Biss is putting forth. We are all God's children, and we were all created in the image of him. It does not matter whether we are white, black, hispanic, asian, or mixed. Just like Genesis says, we were all created in His image. We need to learn to love one another like God has loved us. The only thing I disagreed with Biss in this book was when she implied that education might not be liberating. Being an educator myself, I feel that though Biss may have a valid point, students can take their education to whatever lengths they want to if they are willing to work for it. The color of their skin does not matter. I believe that if the children express a need in learning something, educators will see that need and step up to give it to them.
Part#2: California
I believe that Biss discussed very interesting and in depth insights from her journey to and from California. While what was written seemed to be about racial tensions that we all have known about, she however, looked at them from a first person account. I very much enjoyed her honesty when opening up to the reader about how she felt and thought. She mentioned that there were misconceptions about La Salina, and had even admitted she was more similar to the annoying American tourists than she previously thought. Healing the scars of racism first starts with looking through an objective scope, a scope that not only looks at other races, but also looking at ones attitudes towards those races. I appreciated that she looked at journalism in a whole new light after her work at the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint. Usually in a America a person changes careers because of the hours, boss, or interests, but certainly not because of racial issues which is what Biss had to work through every day. Looking at race from a Christian perspective is obviously more civil and virtues, and 2 Corinthians 8:13 from the minute reports encapsulates this. “Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality” (Bible Gateway). I liked Letters from No Man’s Land for the first person account and realism Biss portrayed throughout the book; it was a compilation of letters that can help heal the scars of racism if one accounts their journey like Biss.
Part#3: The Midwest
In numerous ways, Eula Biss has inspired me to change my attitudes and fears of others. Her stories and thoughts of her time in the Midwest speak to me because I have grown up in Midwestern white culture and understand why she believes students at the University of Iowa do not acknowledge racism as an issue today. I can relate to Biss' frustrations with our cultural norms that isolate and undermine minorities. I admire Biss' writing style and superb communication, as it has helped me acknowledge racial issues still prevalent in America.
When I think about the 'scary racial types' that exist in our society I cannot help but think of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus asks us to love our neighbor, but then we might wonder, who exactly is our neighbor? Jesus does not say that our neighbor is someone who we identify with, but as was the case with the Samaritan, our neighbors can emerge from unexpected places. I interpret this parable to essentially mean that neighborly love is unattached to our social and racial distinctions. I think this idea of neighborly love contrasts the "pioneers" and "gentrification" in Roger's Park, and goes hand in hand with the race-less attitudes Biss envisions.
By: Jason Dingee, Nichole Easlick, & Zach Hersha
Notes from No Man's Land: Eula BissIn order: Introduction, Summaries, Conclusion, Additional articles / sources, & Connections
Wiki Home
Notes from No Man's Land: Introduction
Notes From No Man's Land is a collection of experiences written by Eula Biss. Throughout this work, Biss intertwines themes and ideas from the past and the present as she analyzes what race is to our society. At its core, this book is an interrogation of racism and racial ignorance in America. Biss introduces many insightful ideas about how we can handle issues of race in our lives. Biss is not content with color-blind attitudes that our society has embraced. Instead Biss wants to heal the scars of racism that still exist in post-civil rights America and create social progress in diverse communities. According to Biss, it is our fears of inherent racial differences that let America's racial and cultural wounds persist, and it is our own personal identity that often keeps us from connecting with others. By providing her unique insight of situations in our society, Biss advocates the fall of the boundaries that separate racial groups in America.
Wiki Home
Notes from No Man's Land (Part 1): New York
The first section of "Notes from No-Man's Land" by Eula Biss is titled "New York". It describes some of her experiences in New York regarding race and tells some other race-oriented stories as well. In this section, she describes how she learned about different types of culture as she grew up and when she lived in New York. She realized how people are labeled and stereotyped according to their race. In the end of her experience in New York she found that being surrounded by the racial judgement and the draining, desperate "busyness" of the city made her feel like less of a person. The generalizations and the striving to seek for the opportunities that once was fabled to lie among the New York city streets made her feel like a "nobody", not a "somebody". This is how we as people can feel when we are generalized or stereotyped according to our race.
"Relations" is the first part of the "New York" section. In this section, Biss starts off with a story about a white woman who ended up having twin babies; one white one black. This was the evidence of an error by a fertility clinic. The white woman had received her own fertilized eggs and the fertilized eggs of a black woman who also went to the clinic. The white woman knew the black baby was not her biological child because her husband and herself were not black genetically. There was a big dispute between the white mother and the black mother about who would keep the black child. The white mother felt like both babies were her children, even though the black baby was not hers genetically. The black mother, unable to conceive, felt that the black baby was hers and that she should have custody over him. The court decided that it would be only right that the black baby went with the black mother. The black mother also agreed, although grudgingly, to allow regular visits every so often with the white mother so she could see the black child too. The point that was brought up by the author was that blacks might feel uncomfortable with the idea of white woman raising black children because of what has happened in history. In the past, when slavery was still practiced in the United States, black women would be used for breeding purposes and families would be auctioned off, tearing brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers apart from one another, leaving the white people who bought them to raise the black children (Biss, e-book pg. 251). Harsh feelings may have come from the scars of slavery. Another reason why blacks may not like whites to raise black children is because they might think that raising a black child in a white home would drain the black culture out of them (Biss, e-book pg. 240) These feelings about whites raising blacks exemplifies some of the racism we have in our country and how much weight we let race have in our decisions. Biss said, "Race is a social fiction. But it is also, for now at least, a social fact" (e-book, 240). Another story mentioned in this section was about the "Doll Studies" that started in 1939 to see the effects of racism on children. These studies suggested that because over two-thirds of black children preferred a white doll to a black doll, that black children may have self-esteem issues about their race. These studies have supported the Supreme Court decision to desegregate schools in the Brown vs. Board of Education dispute (Biss, e-book pg. 283). When Biss moved with her cousin to New York, she found many experiences where race determined the treatment she and her cousin got. The landlady that put them up said she was glad she got a "nice" tenant. What Biss later found out though, that what her landlady meant by "nice" was "white" (Biss, e-book 400). People judge on the good and bad on the basis of race. This does not mend the scars of racism.
The "Three Songs of Salvage" section referenced different viewpoints about religion and the meaning of salvation. Biss mentioned how she would pass people on the streets of New York as they yelled out calls to "get saved" by God, or by some other religion. She talked about the different experience she had when she was child. She did not grow up believing in the Christian tradition as many Americans did. Her mother worshiped the African religion of Yoruba. This made her different from other people in America. She also found that she was different from the others she knew who worshiped the Yoruba religion as well. The others knew the religion and dances better, and she felt like she did not belong. Her writing of this portrayed a sense of detachment from the religion. Later as she referenced forward to her time in New York, she seemed to claim no religion. Her mother remarries a few times and chooses not to believe in the Yoruba tradition anymore. What Biss writes at the end of this section was how a person should be "born again" meaning that a person should be able to reevaluate their beliefs. Biss emphasized acceptance by this.
The "Land Mines" section talked about the negative connotations we give to the labels we give others, especially regarding race. In this section Biss describes when she was a teacher in the New York City Public Schools. There, children were very aware of their racial differences, and they were not afraid to let each other feel bad about it. Biss described one class when she had the students write down all the names that they have been called. This was to show emphasis on character building to help the children become better people. However, what Biss found was that based on history and the way schools were set up, children could not escape being defined or controlled according to their race. According to Richard Butchart, and education is the least liberating of all things, especially when it is defined and controlled by others (Biss, e-book pg.673). If the people controlling the school systems show favor to one race, then race will be an issue, and the child will not receive a liberating education but an imprisoned one.
"Goodbye to All That" was about how Biss left New York after a three year stay. She looked back upon her expectations there and how they did not match up with her experiences. While she was there she found that race affected everything there. She found "racial cues" whenever she mentioned a specific area of NY. “The word ‘Harlem’ will mean ‘dangerous’ and ‘tough’ and at other times mean ‘vibrant’ or ‘real’” (Biss, e-book pg. 862) The fact that New York defined each person by race, Biss felt like less of a person there than anywhere else. She learned that "making it there" or not "making it there" does not determine whether you are a failure in life or not. She enjoyed the city, and learned more about herself and how the world worked around her.
“Still I feel jarred by ‘I <3 NY’ bumper stickers and repulsed by ‘I <3 NY’ T-shirts. …I don’t want the New York I loved to be confused with the New York the T-shirts love. That isn’t the same city. … I loved my own experience of the city, which was rarely what I expected it to be.” (Biss, e-book pg. 825)
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Notes from No Man's Land (Part 2): California
California: Black News
Biss’s depiction of her initial feelings of California and her work at Voice and Viewpoint was an eye-opening experience; an experience that would ultimately re-think her profession. Black news started by sharing with the reader the stereotypical image of San Diego: Tan young people, muscular, and of course predominantly white. Biss uses Wall Street as an analogy for this apparent phenomenon. “I would realize later that going to the beach in San Diego is like going to Wall Street in New York…it is a place where the cities imagination of itself resides” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg. 76). Biss could easily make the generalization that the beaches of San Diego are the imagination of what people wish to believe because she lived where many yards were gravel- a much more realistic part of town. A place of town that had several liquor stores blocks from her house. Biss was able to differentiate between her real life, and the beach life conjured up by people’s imaginations. Biss provided more insight into social norms and understanding through her assignments with the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint, an African American community newspaper.
Biss first encountered how blacks in the area were portrayed during her first week of work. A particular case in which subjectivity buried any objective thought. “I covered the possible jury misconduct in the conviction of a particularly big black man who did not match the description of any of the witnesses in the case” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg.77). Biss’s experience is one that might seem unsetting, ut one that certainly isn’t new. To the contrary, how many times has a jury wrongly convicted a white person based on just the color of their skin? The African American community is plagued by being buried by guilt in the public eye, while maintaining a guilty by association status qou. These injustices to the black community are what fueled the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint. While not proprietary in the articles, the V&V did however, compile all black interests articles from the nation into one paper, which Biss described as alarming. The unfortunate racist acts towards blacks from court rulings, society, and the opposition all created a splitting among races. Kenneth Clark, a sociologist instrumental in Brown vs. Board of Education school desegregation shared his thoughts on what racists can do to people. “A racist system inevitably destroys and damages human beings; it brutalizes and dehumanizes them, blacks and whites alike.”
One of those highly publicized stories was one of a mother, Ms. Johnson, who struggled to gain custody of her children. Ms. Johnson was in a unique situation because she had taken the appropriate steps to gain custody, and wanted to care for them. A women who cooked, cleaned, and baby sat friends children certainly didn’t seem like an unfit mother? The problem Biss soon found out was that Ms. Johnson had been convicted of a felony, “discharging a firearm with gross negligence.” Ms. Johnson had not had any problems with the law since and had served her time for that crime some years ago. Biss most likely asserted that a women who was a fit mother with one mishap several years ago who could not gain custody to her children was due to one reason. The only plausible reason for Ms. Johnson not getting custody was because she was continuing to be punished for her crime many years prior. Biss describes the biased situation. “Ms. Johnson had served her probation without incident, and her sentence did not include any restrictions on raising her grandchildren” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg.81). This whole interview process with Ms. Johnson took somewhat of a toll on Biss, for she quit not long after her last interview with Ms. Johnson. News was no longer new, but “someone else’s fantasy,” Biss described. It appears that Biss’s articles of race difficulties in a biased newspaper made her loose her passion to write, a lost passion driven by cynical individuals in which races (primarily blacks in this sense) were dealing with issues their white counterparts hadn’t even thought of.
California: Letters to Mexico
Biss journey to Mexico was a trip full of surprises, much like her other stories, but also a tale of enlightenment. Biss being a minority in the United States still had preconceived notions of what La Salina was composed of. Biss along with many others from the states believed that people who lived near the border where criminals from the U.S. who fled, and ran to prevent extradition. However, after Biss’s experiences with Mexico she later finds out that those beliefs were fabricated from stereotypes and fantasy.
Biss becomes enamored with the culture in La Salina including the night hot spots. Bliss was enjoying herself at a bar where music was being played by a local Mexican who had aspirations to be a Hollywood star. After a song was played by the Mexican, a drunk gringo blurted out, “Hey, who wrote that?” According to Biss the man persisted , and so the singer said, “A couple of pigeons.” Biss started to compare her interactions with people in La Salina with those in California after this incident. “I felt sick with hatred then for my own people. If you had asked me then why I hated them, I might have said that I hated them for being so loud and for being drunk. But know I hated them for suddenly being my people, not just other people” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg. 93). Biss identified herself through being distinct from her white folks by being: more educated, articulate, less crude, but she soon realized that those feelings she had in America has very little or no bearing in Mexico, as they should be in America.
Biss’s encounters more Americans, this time at another bar. Biss describes the Americans as being greedy and ignorant; but soon realized as much as she wanted to differentiate herself from them, she indeed, had very similar intentions. They all were at the same bar enjoying themselves, because they had the money to stay on the beach and eat where others with money could eat. Biss became more aware with why and how she thought the way that she did towards different groups on people. Despite her discomfort with some of “her people” she continued to visit La Salina to swim, drink, and read. Forgetting her fast paced life in California is what attracted her to La Salina. “My past, I discovered in Mexico, was simpler and more complicated than I had ever thought it to be” (Notes From No Man’s Land pg. 94).
The part of the story that intrigued me the most was her account of Mexican immigrants looking for a better life in America. “ Perhaps the story of Mexican immigrants coming to America for a better life has been told so many times that is has obscured the reality of American expatriates fleeing from Mexico for the life they were promised but not delivered” (Biss pg. 96). This very well be not only a truth generalization, but also provides details into the difficulties Mexicans have adapting into American life, a life of discrimination and poverty for many. Biss’s thoughts on this opportunity of starting new into the United States is being supported from statistics from all over, particularly from The Center of Immigration Studies, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that finds economic data on all immigrants who reside in the United States. “Despite the current economic expansion (of the 90’s), about one in four Mexican immigrants lives in poverty, compared to about one in ten natives” (Center For Economic Studies). Compared to other immigrants, Mexicans have one of the most difficult time’s assimilating into the American economy; many believe prejudice and racism might be an enormous factor.
California: Babylon
You wouldn’t think that Biss’s first of many disappointments would be that of a park, but it was. Bliss describes California as a fantasy where her family happened to live, which is why she decided to venture westward. The westward expansion particularly occurred after WWII, in which many were calling Oakland or any other large city Babylon. An elusive metaphor that simply means capitalism, success, and imperialism; Oakland, most likely for propaganda reasons was called a garden city-“find happiness in their garden-set home,” Robert Self describes it as, “But it captured the profound cynicism engrained by decades of liberal failure as well as the remarkably optimistic belief in rebirth, in beginning again” (Biss pg. 108). This idea of optimism for new beginnings parallels the same idea from “letters from Mexico,” when Biss speaks on Mexicans moving to California for new opportunities, except they are met with a cruel reality; the same re3ality that Oakland is facing. While many seem to be hopeful, it may never become what people hope it to be. It may be possible that the poor, economy struck people of Oakland (whether they believe it or not) need something significantly more positive to believe in. The hanging gardens of Babylon may have never existed, the same way Oakland may never reach a place Californians wish it would exist.
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Notes from No Man's Land (Part 3): The Midwest
Eula Biss continues her discussion of race and culture in Iowa where she had spent time teaching as a graduate student at the University of Iowa and then to Chicago where she lives with her husband. Iowa’s white culture, and racial history provides Biss with an insightful cultural understanding.
Back to Buxton
Biss writes of Buxton, a small, mining company town made with a half white, half black population. By all accounts the town represented a community operated by both black and white people and “the colored man’s Mecca of Iowa” (121). Biss focuses on how communities like Buxton worked and what it meant to its citizens. She also compares it to Iowa City, which is also a sort of “company town” because of the University of Iowa’s influence on the city. Biss finds that minority students at UI often feel alienated by the majority of the student body, as it is mostly white. Diversity at the University of Iowa was a selling point for a cultured education. Biss concludes that Buxton was not a utopia because it had integration, but because the people there all shared the community.
Is This Kansas
She also finds that the student culture of senseless partying and virtues of indifference is propped up by the university’s standards for students. She states that the students there were at “the bottom of an immense hierarchy” within the university while concerns from funders, administrators, and professors came first. Biss writes about the Hurricane Katrina and its effects on Americans. The widely held misconceptions and fears of the situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ended up hindering the recovery process there and Biss attributes this to racial fears. Months after the hurricane in New Orleans a tornado ripped through the campus of the University of Iowa. Instead of helping rebuild or acting responsibly, students took their partying to the streets and marveled at the disaster and afterwards, looting was hardly reported. But similarly to New Orleans, efforts to rebuild the city after the tornado were stunted, as months later when Biss left Iowa City, neglected damages remained, and students were “still drinking” (144).
No Man's Land
Biss moves to Chicago with her husband and enters a neighborhood called Roger’s Park. Biss draws upon ideas from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Praire as she dissects her experiences here. While white people and black people coexist in Roger’s Park, there is no community. White people in Roger’s Park refer to themselves as pioneers and allude to the gentrification of the neighborhood with coffee shops and pet grooming shops. In ways, the social situation is like that of Little House, where white settler families lived in fear of the Indians native to the Prairie but hardly realized how their advances were destroying the Indians as a people. The inhabitants of Roger’s Park fear each other and also perpetuate social problems like gangs as minorities live in poverty. Roger’s Park is a No Man’s Land for Eula Biss because while there are people “owning it” the community is divided.
Nobody Knows Your Name
Biss next compares certain aspects of Irish immigrants to blacks in America. She notes the oppressive nature of England’s relationship with Ireland as the English practiced discrimination against the Irish even though the two groups are genetically similar. As Americans, these Irish immigrants were finally able to become equally “white” through their labor. And like the English had discriminated against them, Irish American works now discriminated against blacks. In an article about a new wave of Celtic culture, a British writer describes the Celts as “Europe’s beautiful losers”, which Biss draws upon to wonder, what would it be like to identify ourselves with our “own beautiful losers”? (180). Biss concludes that “feeling black” is the equivalent to “being black”; race has more to do how we identify ourselves and how we want to be represented (181).
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Notes from No Man's Land: Conclusion
Eula Biss' concept of the term No Man's Land refers to an "indeterminate state, a state of confusion or uncertainty" (201). To Biss, it is not our physical differences that separate us but our concepts of community and self that isolate ourselves from each other. As this book clearly shows, racism is still felt in the US and is still very painful. To combat the hindrance of racial fears in America, Biss supports a give and take approach to minority groups and offers up the idea that we choose our own race. Biss does not call for the assimilation of minorities to the majority or make claims that integration is important; instead she envisions a society that interactively spans traditional differences, supporting a "colorful" society of not just different races but of all individuals.
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Notes from No Man's Land : Additional Articles / Sources
Part 1: New York
Part 2: California
Part 3: The Midwest
Minority Report, an online article written by The Daily Beast’s Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert analyzes higher education as it is administered to minorities in the US. In studies, 9 out of 10 white students graduate within six years while 7 out of 10 black students graduate. While enrollment at colleges is increasingly racial diverse, there are still poor graduate rates in America. According to this article, a lot of blame rests on universities that are not doing enough to help students from inner-cities graduate and use images of diversity to attract students. At the same time a college education is increasingly expensive. The authors call these injustices of enrolling over graduating as a hindrance to the US as it stands in the “the global economic race”.
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Warmth of Other Suns (except)
The "Warmth of Other Suns" excerpt was about the Great Migration of black from the South to the North. Blacks received many new opportunities to become part of American society when they moved to the North. Students were learning more advanced materials in school, and people received better wages. The Great Migration transformed the way society worked. New music, jobs, and ways of life were created and equality seemed to become more of a possibility in America.
A Torturous Journey
"A Torturous Journey" was about the injustices that blacks have had to deal with in society. America is still a racial-oriented country and the way society is set up, it can make it hard for blacks to achieve the "American Dream". Some injustices that have come of the way society is set up against blacks is that black men learned to shirk labor through slavery. Also, black families do not have one father and mother for their children. There are many single-parent homes among blacks. Crime became common among black males because they did not have the education to get good jobs. According to christians, blacks have suffered from 4 types of injustice: commutative, distributive, procedural, and remedial. It is our job as Christians to help give blacks a "leg up" so that they can support themselves when put into a never-ending cycle of poverty. This can be done through scholarship programs and organzations that help released prison inmates get back on their feet so they don't have to return to their former lifestyle that placed them in prison. All of these things were discussed in the article.
Wounds, Bandages, and Scars
Chocolate Rain (video/lyrics)
This song reveals social and racial injustices that are here in America today. Tay Zonday sings about the how other fear blacks. The song gives a negative connotation of blacks and shows that that is how America sometimes perceives them. One of the racial injustices he mentions was how a black person who has done the same crime as a white person may face longer imprisonment because he is black. Although courts deny this, there seems to be a trend. Chocolate Rain seems to be an interesting fun song at first, but when listened to, it can open the eyes of any non-black person of the racial injustice that still occurs in America.
DNA Pioneer Apologizes Over Race Row
James Watson, a DNA Pioneer made a racist statement at a conference, and his apology was mentioned in this article. What he said, was that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really". He implied that blacks were not as smart as whites or other races. People found this so controversial that some interviews were canceled with him the next day because of it.
Barack Obama's Speech on Race
In this speech, Obama addresses a comment his pastor made that portrayed racist views, Obama's own racial background, and the trend of racial injustice shown in society today. Obama defends his pastor by saying that his racist comment in no way makes him respect him more or less. Although he does not agree with what his pastor implied, he still finds him a respectable man. Obama talked about his own racial background. He came from many different places, and he has friends and relatives that live all over the world. He has respect for all races and sympathizes with them. He also says that he has a goal to make sure that society does not sway towards a certain racial group. He hopes that he can be a part of accomplishing that goal.
Holder Calls U.S. "Nation of Cowards"
Eric Holder mentions how America is too shy to speak about racial injustices and about race in gender. He says we need to acknowledge the different races all around us and be willing to talk to one another so that we can better accept each other.
Is the Black Church Dead?
The article explains how the black churches in some areas are focusing more on giving money, then actual worship. “New Birth Missionary Baptist -- with 25,000 members who generously bankroll high-living pastors and high-tech services.” Many churches to make sure they’re staying relevant are focusing on what really matters – helping the black underprivileged community.
Melting Chocolate City
Washington D.C. has always prided itself as a diverse culture, until now. Many blacks are becoming overwhelmed with the high standard of living, and so many are rapidly moving out of D.C. It is ironic that out nation’s capital is considered one of the most polarized, according to Howard Harrison. “Clearly, D.C. is one of the most polarized cities, by income and education, in the country… You have this unusually large college educated population. And then you have a population that is largely black, with high school degrees or less.”
Samuel L. Jackson: I voted for Obama because he was black
Samuel L. Jackson made this candid response recently, and gave an “N word” laden explanation of why he voted for Obama. “When it comes down to it, they wouldn’t have elected a [bleep]. Because, what’s a [bleep]? A [bleep] is scary. Obama ain’t scary at all. [Bleeps] don’t have beers at the White House. [Bleeps] don’t let some white dude, while you in the middle of a speech, call [him] a liar. A [bleep] would have stopped the meeting right there and said, ‘Who the [bleep] said that?’ I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, ’cuz he ain’t gotta worry about getting re-elected.” It is unbelievable that the #1 most grossing movie actor of all time could be so obtuse about the situation. Is it fair to say that white people vote for white politicians because of the color of their skin? Regardless of color, a voter (although they have the right to vote based off of any subjective reasoning) should vote for a candidate based off of political know how, not race.
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Notes from No Man's Land : Connections
Part #1: New York
There were many things that were written in this book that I already knew about. However, I did not previously know that the government purposely put black children into school with whites when they legalized integration. I had originally thought that the government allowed integration and that it just happened eventually. I suppose it would make sense though to help along the new legislation. As a Christian, I agree with overall message the Biss is putting forth. We are all God's children, and we were all created in the image of him. It does not matter whether we are white, black, hispanic, asian, or mixed. Just like Genesis says, we were all created in His image. We need to learn to love one another like God has loved us. The only thing I disagreed with Biss in this book was when she implied that education might not be liberating. Being an educator myself, I feel that though Biss may have a valid point, students can take their education to whatever lengths they want to if they are willing to work for it. The color of their skin does not matter. I believe that if the children express a need in learning something, educators will see that need and step up to give it to them.
Part#2: California
I believe that Biss discussed very interesting and in depth insights from her journey to and from California. While what was written seemed to be about racial tensions that we all have known about, she however, looked at them from a first person account. I very much enjoyed her honesty when opening up to the reader about how she felt and thought. She mentioned that there were misconceptions about La Salina, and had even admitted she was more similar to the annoying American tourists than she previously thought. Healing the scars of racism first starts with looking through an objective scope, a scope that not only looks at other races, but also looking at ones attitudes towards those races. I appreciated that she looked at journalism in a whole new light after her work at the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint. Usually in a America a person changes careers because of the hours, boss, or interests, but certainly not because of racial issues which is what Biss had to work through every day. Looking at race from a Christian perspective is obviously more civil and virtues, and 2 Corinthians 8:13 from the minute reports encapsulates this. “Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality” (Bible Gateway). I liked Letters from No Man’s Land for the first person account and realism Biss portrayed throughout the book; it was a compilation of letters that can help heal the scars of racism if one accounts their journey like Biss.
Part#3: The Midwest
In numerous ways, Eula Biss has inspired me to change my attitudes and fears of others. Her stories and thoughts of her time in the Midwest speak to me because I have grown up in Midwestern white culture and understand why she believes students at the University of Iowa do not acknowledge racism as an issue today. I can relate to Biss' frustrations with our cultural norms that isolate and undermine minorities. I admire Biss' writing style and superb communication, as it has helped me acknowledge racial issues still prevalent in America.
When I think about the 'scary racial types' that exist in our society I cannot help but think of the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus asks us to love our neighbor, but then we might wonder, who exactly is our neighbor? Jesus does not say that our neighbor is someone who we identify with, but as was the case with the Samaritan, our neighbors can emerge from unexpected places. I interpret this parable to essentially mean that neighborly love is unattached to our social and racial distinctions. I think this idea of neighborly love contrasts the "pioneers" and "gentrification" in Roger's Park, and goes hand in hand with the race-less attitudes Biss envisions.
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